Her dream was intoxicating; her body filled with sensation just before the sound of Twice came piercing through her conscience.

                You make me feel special~

“Oh… my god,” she groaned and heated up as she realized what had just happened.

She reached over, grabbed her phone and turned the alarm off before the next verse, then rolled back onto her back to stare at the ceiling. The images returned to her mind and were oddly graphic and clear.

“What are you doing,” she rolled over onto her belly and dug her face into her pillow, letting out a loud bellow that was muffled by the encased feathers, “why are you dreaming about him like that, you animal?!”

Her mind reeled in confusion while the sober side of her tried to organize her memories. She sat up and thought for a second about what had actually happened. She remembered a moment where she was drinking with her friends and the men they were on a blind date with, then she remembered calling Jungkook like a drunk idiot, only to make him run to her while on the clock. Then the memory of her kissing him came back to her; not just the one kiss, but both filled her thoughts as she realized what she’d done to him.

“Oh no,” she grabbed her hair and tried to pull it all out, “what have you done?”

Her phone rang then just as the memory of his words came back to her: I’ll see you tomorrow… I’ll come see you.

She gasped and scrambled onto her feet to instinctively look at herself in the mirror for a touch-up, which she realized was useless in this moment. She threw up her hands, groaned and then ran to her phone. Her face quickly turned from concern into interest as the number that appeared wasn’t Jungkook’s, but a random number which she didn’t know.

“Hello,” she answered the iPhone.

“Oh, hello, this is Kang Seulgi… I promised you an interview?”

“Oh,” her eyes widened, “hi, how are you doing?”

“I’m doing well, and you?”

“Very well,” she was overly excited, “I can’t believe you called me… how did you get my number?”

“Oh, I asked Jimin if he knew how to get in contact with you and he remembered that you worked at Worldwide Times, so we asked around and eventually got in contact with Jungkook, who gave me your number.”

“Oh, I see,” she sighed, “it won’t be necessary anymore, unfortunately.”

“Why is that?”

“Well, the original story was scrapped because it was found that all of it was fabricated by your stalker, so since there’s no reason to further investigate the story, we just decided to drop it.”

“Oh,” Seulgi realized, “I thought the story was about me and Jimin this entire time.”

“Well, that was a part of it… truthfully.”

“Oh well, you still saved me, and I probably wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you being there that night, so I’d like to treat you to some food or even just a coffee.”

She looked at her clock, “well, if you insist… I could use a coffee right about now.”

“That’s perfect,” Seulgi was excited, “I don’t have anything on my schedule until this afternoon anyways.”

“That’s great, where’d you like to meet? I know you have some limitations.”

“Um… how about this pub I know of. It doesn’t open till 5pm, but my friend owns it, so she’ll open it for us to meet… that way we have privacy. She also makes a mean coffee even though she owns a pub.”

“That’s perfect, just send me the information and I’ll meet you there.”

“Great, let’s meet in an hour, okay?”

“Sounds good~.”

An hour later, Yeri arrived at the smallest, most adorable pub on the corner of the softest alley she’d ever been in. Unlike the pubs she’d gone to the night before, this one was hip and quite gentle with its colors. It was softly lit with several peachy, pale yellow and mint colored lights that would put Etude House to shame. She entered and stood still in the entrance to study the ambiance of the place.

“Oh, Journalist Kim,” Seulgi shouted to her, “over here.”

“Oh, Seulgi-ssi,” she joined Seulgi at the table, “I’m not a journalist yet, so just call me Yeri.”

“Sure… I hope it wasn’t too difficult to find this place.”

“No, it was alright.”

Just then, a slim woman who looked to be in her early 20’s walked over to them, “well, I see your date is here.”

Seulgi giggled and then turned to introduce them, “Yeri-ssi, this is Wendy… we’ve been friends since high school and were in the same class.”

“Oh, it’s very nice to meet you,” Yeri smiled at the welcoming host, “but are you Korean?”

“Yes,” Wendy chuckled, “my Korean name is Son Seungwan… Wendy is just a name my foreign friends gave to me and I felt like it was good to keep it for work.”

“This is Kim Yerim,” Seulgi introduced her, “she’s a… journalist with Worldwide Times.”

“Just Yeri is fine,” she added, “and journalist is just a temporary title.”

“Why’s it temporary,” Wendy asked patiently.

She chuckled, “it’s a long story, but I’m hoping to become a permanent one soon.”

“Well, when you do, you’ll have to come back here to celebrate.”

“That is an offer I will not decline… thank you.”

“What can I get for you two right now?”

Seulgi looked at the options, “I’ll do the house blend.”

“You like your coffee black, huh,” Yeri was intrigued, “I’ll take your sweetest morning drink.”

“Of course,” Wendy walked away, “I’ll be right back.”

“So,” Seulgi leaned on the table, “how’s the injury?”

“It’s very well, of course… wasn’t too bad of an injury, but I think I just fainted from the combination of the pain and being tired.”

“That makes sense. I was really worried that something was broken there.”

“No, he didn’t actually kick me that hard, though my bruise reminds me of how careful I need to be in the future.”

“You should be more careful. For someone in your line of work, it may be even good to learn some self-defense skills.”

“That’s not a bad idea actually.”

“Here,” Seulgi opened her phone, “if you’re really up for it, I’ll give you a referral to my gym… it’s actually very affordable and is not too far from here, so if you live nearby, it might be a good option for you. They have several classes from basic self-defense, mixed martial arts, boxing and so on.”

“That’s very cool,” she really considered, “if it’s not too much trouble, I’d be very interested in checking them out.”

“Yeah, please do,” Seulgi placed her phone down, “I just sent you the information for the gym… they’ve got several professional fighters who train there and who also teach, so it’s very credible.”

“That’s great, thank you.”

After they got their drinks, Wendy left them to take care of some management duties, leaving them to another awkward silence.

“So, out of curiosity,” Yeri finally broke the silence, “and this is completely off the record, by the way… how did you and Park Jimin come to be?”

“Well, it’s quite a romantic story, if I say so myself,” Seulgi blushed and placed her hands lightly on her lap, “my company had just released my debut date and teaser video, and were in the middle of promoting me to sponsors for clothes, music, events and basically everything every idol needs. I was at a small showcase in his bar, and though it’s unusual for an idol group to be sponsored by a bar, my company was quite desperate, to be honest. They didn’t hesitate to take the offer. At first, I was quite repulsed by him, as any young girl would be if they were being courted by the owner or shareholder of any bar or club, but the more encounters I had with him, the more his smile appealed to me.”

“He does have a talent for charming with his smile, that’s for sure,” Yeri chuckled.

“Yes, he does… and he didn’t hesitate to confess to me from the beginning. I did push him away for some time because, as you may know, idols are discouraged from dating.”

“Yes, unfortunately…”

“But then one day, I came down with the flu and you know what he did?”

“What,” Yeri became entranced by the story.

“He came to visit me. The rest of my members had left with our only manager to continue their schedules, while I stayed at home. He showed up, and that scared me a bit, but then he came through my door with a cannister of porridge and a first-aid kit that was full of band-aids and disinfecting cream,” Seulgi chuckled and blushed, “it made me laugh uncontrollably at how idiotic and impulsive he was to bring a box of band-aids to care for someone with the flu, but it also made me realize how much he cared for me.”

Yeri leaned into her hand and sighed in an envious manner.

Seulgi proudly lifted her chin, “he spent the entire day with me, just making sure I had water and food. He didn’t make any advances… just simply sat next to my bed to wipe the beads of sweat from my forehead… you could say that he completely stole my heart then.”

“Wow, that is very romantic,” Yeri sat up straight, “I have to admit that he didn’t seem the type to be that romantic.”

“Yes, well, we made sure to keep our feelings in check… he’s a chaebol and was used to getting what he wanted, but he quickly understood that my aspirations came first. He knew that it was my dream to sing and dance on stage, so when I suggested that we keep our relationship a secret, he didn’t hesitate to agree, and even offered to fully sponsor our group.”

“I don’t mean to be intrusive,” Yeri bit her bottom lip, “but have you two been